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The education of your child is a three-way partnership. It takes the effort and involvement of the student, teacher, and parents to make sure that students make progress and receive the kinds of support they need to grow academically, emotionally, and socially. HCS provides a number of ways for parents to communicate with schools regarding their child. While the doors and telephone lines are always open to parents, here are a few ways that you can be involved, directly and indirectly, to support your child’s education.
Parent-Teacher Conferences
During the year, parents should expect to be invited to their child’s school to participate in a conference with teachers. This gives parents, teachers, and students an opportunity to talk with each other about what the expectations are for learning. Teachers should share samples of student work, provide information on how the student performed on tests, and give feedback as to how well the student is making progress toward grade level standards. Conferences are designed to foster communication between the home and school so that everyone understands expectations and can work together to help students succeed.
Here are a few questions you might ask during a conference:
- What is my child expected to know, understand, and be able to do at the end of the year or course?
- How is my child performing right now?
- What do you make of the test results you have for my child?
- Is my child at the right place for this time of year to meet or exceed expectations?
- If my child seems to be ahead of his peers, what can we do to make sure that he is academically challenged?
- If my child is behind some of his peers, what can you do to help him catch up?
- Is there anything thing you have observed about my child that I should know about, such as problems with friends or difficulty focusing on assignments?
- How can I find out about classroom and homework assignments?
- How can we communicate during the year if I have questions about my child?
- How can I help my child at home?
Curriculum Standards
HCS uses the English/language arts, science, and social studies curriculum standards developed by the South Carolina Department of Education. These standards define what students will be taught and what they should know, understand, and be able to do when they complete a grade or a course. Curriculum standards help to make sure that everyone knows the expectations for student learning. State standardized tests are based on state standards
The curriculum standards are available on our website at
http://www.horrycountyschools.net/departments/learningservices/ or a printed copy may be obtained through your child’s teacher or school upon
request.
Parent-Student-Teacher Compacts
The parent-student-teacher compact defines the responsibilities of the parent, the student, and the school staff for increasing student achievement at Title I schools (see page 17 in the Parent/Student Handbook). Each party is asked to develop the compact indicating their responsibilities for student learning. For more information, call the Office of Federal Programs at 488-6809.
Even if you aren’t in a Title I school where the compact is required, work with your child to write one together. Be sure to set goals and define expectations for things like doing homework, independent reading, providing a place to study, and establishing an appropriate bedtime during the school week.
Web resources for information
School websites are a great source for up-to-date information about events, activities, and initiatives at your child’s school. Some schools have parent distribution lists to send newsletters and other announcements via email. Find out if your child’s school has a distribution list, and if it does, sign up. Be sure to let the school know if you change your e-mail address during the year.
The district now has available many resource options to maximize communication. These resource include Blogs, WIKI's, Forums and RSS feeds.
Every school site within the district has a calendar located on their home page. You may subscribe to the RSS feed for the calendar by selecting the RSS feed icon on the calendars full page and receive email notifications when the calendar has been updated.
As part of a statewide initiative, the district has updated the student information system, SASI, to a new web based application, PowerSchool. The new PowerSchool system includes a parent portal which provides parents with access to grades and attendance information which had previously been provided in the district developed SMART system. You may obtain additional information about accessing the new parent portal from your child's school.
Weather and/or Emergency Announcements: In the event of a delay, early release, or closure due to inclement weather, or in the event of a school or district emergency, announcements will be made through the District’s website, TV 12, the local news media and the telephone notification system.
News and Information: The District website is your source for information about public education. You’ll find local information, as well as links to state and national departments of education.
District Calendar: Even if your school calendar is at home on the refrigerator, you can check the calendar online if you are making plans for vacation or special appointments during the school year. School web pages may also contain additional information regarding events and activities planned at the school that may need consideration.
School websites and maps to schools: Link to your child’s school or explore other schools in the area from our home page. Maps to all schools are available online.
Menus: Breakfast/lunch menus and meal prices are online. School menus may vary slightly from the menus published on the District’s web site. If menu items are important to you, we suggest you always refer to your school’s published menu.
Bus Information: Online information includes bus routes and phone numbers to the bus offices in each attendance area.
Parent-Student Handbook: The District’s website has an online version of the parent student handbook which includes all the printed content and any supplements or changes that could be added during the year.
School Board: Get access to meeting agendas, schedules for workshops and regular meetings, minutes from previous meetings and contact information for School Board members. Board meetings are public meetings and parents and students are always invited to attend.
School and District Performance: Information regarding school and district performance on state tests, state report cards, national tests, and federal accountability are available online.
SAT/College Center: Information on college admissions testing, colleges and universities, career planning, and scholarship information.
DISCUS: South Carolina’s Virtual Library provides a large selection of online resources including magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias, and other reference materials. Check with your school media specialist in August for your new user name and password.
Union Catalog: A complete database of the library media collections in all schools.
Customer Care Center: The Customer Care Center serves as a web-based link between the District, schools, families, residents and other constituent groups. Knowing what you think about HCS and the services we provide is important to us. Click on the Customer Care link on the District’s homepage to ask questions or give us your views, concerns, and ideas on how we can improve our programs and services.
Newcomer’s Guide: A special link is available from the District homepage to answer dozens of questions asked by persons who enroll for the first time or for those who relocate from other states. Information is available about the District, the county, and public education in South Carolina.
“Whom to Contact” List: A directory is available online that includes the names, titles, areas of responsibility, telephone numbers and email address of District office personnel.
Notification network provides a direct line of communication
HCS uses an Internet-based notification network to call parents during an emergency, a change in schedule due to inclement weather, or to pass along need-to-know information in a short period of time. The system uses the contact information parents provide to the school for the student management database. So if you change home, work, or emergency telephone numbers, or e-mail addresses during the school year, please contact the school so that your information can be updated.
The notification network allows the District to initiate calls to all students and staff within minutes with a voice recording. Please avoid the urge to hang up when you
realize there is no “live” person on the other end of the phone.
Schools use the notification network to contact parents with announcements about events, information about meetings, and to provide notices to parents about student attendance. If you have any questions about the notification network, please speak with your school principal. We appreciate any feedback you can give us as we look for ways to improve our communication with you.
HCS TV 12:
The educational access channel, TV 12, is available to all cable customers of HTC and to most cable customers of Time Warner. TV 12 provides up-to-date information through announcements and programming including Inside HCS, Homework TV, and Boardroom Focus. TV 12 also broadcasts student performances, graduations, and special addresses from the School Board chairman and Superintendent. A complete broadcast schedule is available online, but here are two programs that you may want to watch for:
- Inside HCS is news program that provides information about performance, programs, initiatives, and celebrations of student, staff, and school achievements. Inside HCS airs daily at 7 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 4 p.m., 6 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Inside HCS is also available on the District’s website.
- Homework TV offers live homework help via television during the academic year. A schedule for Homework TV is available on the HSC website. Click on About Us, then HCS TV 12. If you child’s homework has stretched you beyond your comfort zone, make sure he or she taps into Homework TV for help or, better yet, watch it together. Students may call 488-6797 for personalized help with homework. This service is not available to Time Warner cable customers on the south strand of Myrtle Beach.
Here are a few other ways to get involved with your child’s school…
School Volunteers: Be a tutor, reading friend, lunch buddy, classroom or office helper, or spearhead a school project or event. School volunteers provide unlimited support to individual students, teachers, classrooms, and office personnel. If you have time you are willing to share with your child’s school, contact the school’s volunteer coordinator. Applications to volunteer are available on the District’s website.
Mentors: Mentors provide one-on-one support to a student who may need academic assistance, a role model, support for improvement in attendance, behavior or citizenship, or goal setting for future career and educational goals. For information, speak with the school’s volunteer coordinator.
PTA/PTO/PTSO/Booster Clubs: Parents have opportunities to get involved in their child’s school through chapters of the Parent Teacher Association, Parent Teacher Organization, Parent Teacher Student Organization and booster clubs for extracurricular activities. Check with your child’s school for meeting times and more information.
Business/Organization Partnerships: If you are an employee of a business or a member of an organization that would like to partner with a school to provide support for student learning, you may contact the principal of the school you wish to work with or the Office of Accountability and Information Services at 488.6776. Partnerships involve direct and indirect support to students, teachers and schools through shared resources, common goals and interests and most importantly, time.
School Improvement Councils: School Improvement Councils (SIC) serve as advisory committees to principals by helping to prepare the school’s strategic plan and annual updates, and by assisting in the monitoring of school activities and achievements. For information about the SIC at your school, talk to the principal. For information about the purpose and function of SICs, visit www.ed.sc.edu/sic/.
Local Advisory Boards: Local Advisory Board members are nominated by School Board members and are appointed by the full Board. Local Advisory
Board members serve as communication liaisons between the school and community, work to involve business and community members in the schools, and serve on interview teams for new principals.
Service Learning: Service learning bridges community service with academic learning. Dozens of educators in the District are trained to incorporate service into the classroom for experiences that help students understand personal and civic responsibility.
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